Pow Down

By The Editors
January 15, 2014 9:00 am

Nothing ruins a blissful run down the powder like a traffic jam of jean-wearing gapers.

So this season, go someplace where the tourons have yet to show their faces: Powder Mountain, Utah, an alluringly off-the-grid ski mountain where only 1,000 people ski on an average day.


With over 7,000 acres and 500 inches of snow per year, Pow Mow (as it’s affectionately known by locals) is just a three-hour flight-and-drive from LAX.

On tap:

  • Four aerial lifts, three surface tows, eight shuttle buses and five hauler snowcats (see video)

  • An Adventure Center with guided Snowcat Powder Expeditions into 3,000 acres of powder-laden backcountry

  • Snowkiting

  • Super Loops (see video): i.e., various ski routes that include three lifts, one bus ride and one single-ride snowcat run down Lightning Ridge (over 700 acres of untracked powder)

  • And an array of dining options, from kale salads to smokehouse meats

Make your reservations now, before Summit Co. — a gregarious group of deep-pocketed innovators who count Bill Clinton and sex “genius” Esther Perel as speakers — builds out their mountaintop village.

After that, Pow Mow will still be awesome. But it won’t be the same.

Nota bene: You’ll need a primo ski jacket for this trip. Lucky for you, we found and tested three of the best in That’ll Hunt, a recurring feature in our Nation edition.

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